Radio Free Europe
RFE/RL journalists report the news in 22 countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Russia.
Turkmen Wanted In Ashgabat On 'Extremism' Charges Detained In Russia.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Russian authorities have detained a Turkmen citizen who is wanted in Ashgabat on a controversial "extremism" charge.
Lawyer Olga Tseitlina told RFE/RL on January 25 that Ahmet Jumadurdyev was detained by police in the city of St. Petersburg "to check his documents."
Jumadurdyev studied at a university in the town of Ivangorod near St. Petersburg from 2013 to 2017.
In 2017, authorities in Turkmenistan added him to a wanted list, accusing him of "religious extremism" after Jumadurdyev started writing in social networks about Turkmen citizens who had received lengthy prison terms after returning to Turkmenistan from Russia.
Jumadurdyev, who rejects the accusations by the Turkmen authorities, was arrested in St. Petersburg at Ashgabat's request and spent one year in a detention center. His brother was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Turkmenistan in an "extremism case."
Eleven Turkmen who studied in Russian universities were added to the wanted list at the time. Two of them were sentenced to 15 years in prison after they came back home from Russia.
In 2019, Russian officials rejected Jumadurdyev's claim for refugee status. His request for asylum in Estonia was also rejected.
Last summer, Jumadurdyev tried to illegally cross the Russian-Estonian border but was stopped by Estonian border guards and sent back to Russia.
Russian authorities then banned his presence in the country until July 1, 2055.
However, in October 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Jumadurdyev cannot be deported to Turkmenistan until it makes a final ruling on his case.
Russian Shelling Of Kharkiv Wounds 4, Including 3 Children.
Four people, including three children, were wounded early on April 26 when Russian troops shelled the village of Derhachi in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said.
Bodies Of 140 Fallen Soldiers Returned To Ukraine
The bodies of 140 Ukrainian servicemen killed in action have been returned to Ukraine, the Kyiv-based Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced in a statement on April 26.
Tensions High In Kazakh Village After Alleged Rape Of Teenage Girl.
Tension remains high in Kazakhstan’s southern town of Zaghambar as authorities deployed special forces there on April 24-25 after police detained a teenage boy suspected of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Ex-Deputy Chief Of Kyrgyz Anti-Monopoly Service Arrested.
A court in Kyrgyzstan on April 26 sent former Deputy Chief of the Anti-Monopoly Service Akjoltoi Tukunov to pretrial detention for at least two months on charge of calling for mass disorders.
Kyrgyz Opposition Politician To Appeal Fraud Conviction.
The leader of United Kyrgyzstan opposition party Adakhan Madumarov told journalists after he was released from a detention center on April 26 that he will appeal his conviction as the case against him was "ungrounded."
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